Pastoral Relief and Retreat

I am Pastor at Poquonock Community Church, Congregational (CCCC) in Windsor, CT. My wife Jama and I live in Wetherfield, CT.
We'd like to invite you to Terre Haute -- High Ground -- That's what Jama and I call the retreat space on our property. We offer free intentional get-away retreats. We'll feed you and house you and give you space to be with the Lord. All are welcome; no questions asked.
This blog is my daily devotional journal. I write it because it is so easy to go for weeks without ever taking the time to be alone with God. Writing helps me develop a discipline I need.

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Nineveh Project, Day 2 Evening, Day 3 Morning

The Church Planting
Pastor

Terry Walling, presenter

(formerly with Christian Resource Ministries)

The most important thing that is happening in your church is
what God is doing in you.The
most important thing is what’s going on in your journey with him and in your
shaping and development.You are being
judged by all kinds of things that are not necessarily Jesus.Those judgments tend to be church dogma.

The Shaping of a Life

God has always been at work shaping you.Do you have the capacity of seeing that God
has been shaping you and how he has gone about shaping you.Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.”God has been
preparing you for a time such as this.The difference between leaders and followers is perspective.In particular, perspective on you.

Personal renewal precedes and leads to corporate
change.Mentoring and discipling are the
most important things you can be doing.If you just talk to your congregation, they’ll only remember 15% of what
you say.If you can get your people to
talk to one another, it’ll jump to about 60%.If you pour your life into one of
them, it’ll jump to 80 or 90%.

Who have been the mentors in your life who really changed
your life?Now, look in the
Scriptures.Who is your Biblical
mentor?What character in the Scriptures
has taught you more than anyone else?

Book: The Making of a
Leader, by J. Robert Clinton

Matthew 25:14-30Will
you take the things that God has done in your life and entrusted to you and
invest in the future?Not many finish
well.About 1 in 3 will finish more in
love with Jesus than when they started.Character formation Mark 3:13-14, Psalm 78:72.The tension in leadership is between being
and doing.Skills and knowledge vs.
Character and journey.

Influence

Spiritual Authority

Character Formation

Wounding

Calling moves to Contribution.Contribution moves to Convergence.

A leader is someone who understands who they are
(self-defined) and has a non-anxious presence.

What are the 7 defining moments, 5 key decisions, and 3 most
influential people in your life?

Pathway to
Convergence

Age 20-30A life
committed and dedicated to living and carrying out God’s purposes and call,
which issues in clarity of:

Age 30-40First
and second order call and the surfacing one’s unique values and vision.

Age 40-50It moves
onto the discovery of one’s major role, effective methodologies.These insights then begin to call for…

Age 50-60A series
of strategic, life choices and decisions that begin to point to one’s ultimate
contribution, positioning

Age 60+A
leader for the potential to experience convergence, the brining together who a
leader is (being) with all that a leadr does (doing) and resulting in
convergence.

Pathway to Burnout

The sense you are running on empty, followed by

Actually running on empty but you’re still going because you
can’t stop

The body is still going, but the heart has shut down

The body shuts down and you quit

What Causes Leaders
NOT to Finish Well?

Few leaders make a single, once-and-for-all, disqualifying
decision

Most “Finishing Well” failures result from a series of
smaller , incremental failures, that happen over time, and erode a lifetime of
development, values, and goals.

Barriers are the inappropriate use of: Finances, Family,
Pride (lack of self-awareness), Sex, Power (and its abuse).These, combined with a Loss of the Word, and
Plateauing.